Sir Redvers Buller's second attempt--A message from the Queen--Last sad farewells--Burial of Steevens and Lord Ava--At dead of night-- Relief army north of the Tugela--Water difficulties surmised--A look in at Bulwaan--Spion Kop from afar--What the watchers saw-- The Boers trekking--Buller withdraws--The "key" thrown away-- Good-bye to luxuries--Precautions against disease--"Chevril"--The damming of the Klip--Horseflesh unabashed--One touch of pathos-- Vague memories of home--Sweet music from the south--Buller tries again--Disillusionment--The last pipe of tobacco 209 CHAPTER XII AFTER ONE HUNDRED DAYS Boer paean of victory--Rations cut down--Sausage without mystery-- The "helio" moves east--Sick and dying at Intombi--Famine prices at market--Laughter quits the camps--A kindly thing by the enemy-- Good news at last--Heroes in tatters--The distant tide of battle-- Pulse-like throb of rifles--Two sons for the Empire--British infantry on Monte Cristo--Boer ambulances moving north--"'Ave you 'eard the noos?"--Rations increased--Bulwaan strikes his tents-- "With a rifle and a red cross"--Buller "going strong"--Cronje's surrender--A sorry celebration--"A beaten army in full retreat"-- "Puffing Billy" dismantled--General Buller's message--belief at hand 224 CHAPTER XIII RELIEF AT LAST The beginning of the end--Buller's last advance--Heroic Inniskillings--The coming of Dundonald--A welcome at Klip River Drift--A weather-stained horseman--The Natal troopers--Cheers and tears--A grand old General--Sir George White's address-- "Thank God, we have kept the flag flying!"--"God save the Queen"-- Arrival of Buller--Looking backward--Within four days of starvation--Horseflesh a mere memory--Eight hundred sick and wounded--A word of tribute--Conclusion 237 ILLUSTRATIONS Sir George Stewart White, V.C., G.C.S.I. (from a photograph by Window & Grove) _Frontispiece_ The Royal Hotel, Ladysmith (showing the ruins of Mr. Pearse's bedroom wrecked by a shell from "Long Tom," 3rd Nov. 1899) _Face page 26_ A shell-proof resort (a culvert under a road used as a living place by day for civilians, who returned to their houses when the shelling ceased after sunset) 50 The British position at Ladysmith (looking north towards Rietfontein and the Newcastle Road) 96 The British position at Ladysmith (looking nearly due south) 128 The British position at Ladysmith (looking south-east) 162 The British position at Ladysmith (looking eastward) 202 PLANS Sketch-map of positions round Ladysmith, Nov. 1899 _Face page 60_ Siege of Ladysmith, after two months of bombardment 175 The environs of Ladysmith 180